Hi, i don't own a property in the algarve but always book with algarvegetaways. Barbara and Howard who run the company are brilliant and the properties they look after seem to be booked. I am not sure if they have any properties in silves on there books but it's worth having a word with them.

bamburghsue

We probably get the best results from Holiday Lettings and Holiday Lets. We get loads of enquiries from Travel Library but this may be because they don't have availability charts.

I've read that people are experiencing a drop in enquiries via Owners Direct so you might do better by using one or more of the above. We haven't really noticed any change in the rate of enquiries this year. It would be a shame to have to sell the property without trying all the options - there's still time for this year's high season. It might be a good idea to search for late availability villas in the Algarve and then use the websites you find them on.

Good luck, and I really hope things improve for you!

I'm not in the Algarve but from what I can see and have heard, this slowing of bookings is a general thing.

I'm sure that there are many reasons for this, the poor exchange rate, credit crunch and the vast number of private rentals that are now available.

Certainly I have had to work alot harder for my bookings this last couple of years.

Have you tried searching the net as though you are a potential guest, using as many different terms as you can think of? Then you can see which sites consistantly appear on the first page.

Have you tried holiday-rentals.co.uk?

This is where I always go to first to look at places.

Me too Deb.

Great minds and all that eh?

Ive found ownersdirect really good. Lots of enquiries and bookings. I have tried lots of others who i wont mention here because they have not produced any bookings. Any more recommendations for owners websites ?

A guy who posts on our Limassol forum runs a site called http://www.RentInTheSun.com

I just had a look and Portugal is feature there.

I always find owners direct comes fairly high in the search results too.

CwB

I own a rental property in Crete and use Owners direct to advertise. Im quite happy with them. But interested in http://www.RentInTheSun.com Anyone any experience/ feedback on this site re typical volume of enquiries and bookings ?

My own experience (with an apartment in Cabo Roig near Murcia / Alicante) is :

- Sounds obvious but don't go so low in price that it's not worth it - think about wear and tear and A/C costs
- Be careful about arrivals days, if you don't stick to one changeover day you will have holes all over your reservation chart. Pick a day when there are most flights coming in to your main airport. Apply this rule more strictly in school holidays / high summer than in say Jan when you will be lucky to get any bookings)
- Don't spread yourself too thick
- Network with other owners in your block as they can help you, e.g. they might have an enquiry where a family wants multiple apartments.
- Another obvious one - network with your friends and family, anyone you know work for a large employer, see if you can get a listing on their noticeboard / intranet.

I'm currently using Owners Direct, Holiday-Lettings and Holiday-Rentals. Owners Direct have been good with regards to leads but not so good recently and less "conversions", but Holiday-Rentals was pretty bad this year, best of bunch for us has been Holiday Lettings. I have a "refer a friend" code for that one: 45220 which gets you 3months free on the 12months option.

I also notice that this site has a free area where regular forum posters can out their ads. In general "free" listings have been of no use to us. Either it's not worth the time filling in the details and get no leads or after you list they start asking for money for upgrades etc. Don't forget you will have to update availability calendar, prices etc so it's best in my experience to stick with 1 or 2 strong websites.